1998 Isuzu Trooper

Hi Everyone,

I have a 1998 Isuzu Trooper that's been going through a lot of oil lately. It has about 98,000 miles on it on a rebuilt engine. I just recently got an oil change on it about 1200 miles ago. There's no apparent leak as I can't spot any oil spots underneath the Trooper after I've parked it for an extended period. I'd say it goes through about 5 quarts every 600 miles. What could be causing this? Does an older engine just burn up that much oil?

On a related note, I was visiting a friend over the weekend and on the return trip the Oil Warning light came on after I drove over a long incline. The engine started losing power and felt like it was going to seize up. I took the next exit and made it slowly to a gas station. I popped the hood and checked the oil level. Bone dry. I bought 5 quarts of oil and filled it up. We let it sit for about 10 minutes and I turned the engine over. It sounded like it was idling fine. We let it run for about 20 minutes. I tried revving the engine up gradually. When I passed about 1200 RPMs I could detect a mid- range rattling sound coming from the engine. We tried driving around the parking lot and then proceeded out to the local street for some testing. Other than the noise it didn't seem like it was losing any power. We got back on the freeway and made it back home slowly. By the time we made it back 35 miles the rattling sound was significantly louder. I tried turning over the engine today and it's making that rattling sound. ie. TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT. Does this mean I have a busted rod in one of the cylinders?

TIA!

-Peter

Reply to
Peter Pak
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Afraid I don't know enough to help you out with the latter part of your message. But...I know Troopers are prone to using oil, just the nature of the beast. However, I'd have to say 5 quarts in 600 miles is definitely a sign of a problem somewhere. Check and make sure it's not going into the coolant (sign of a blown head gasket). Otherwise, seems like it would have to be smoking like crazy to burn that much oil. Either that you just need to stop every 100 miles to check the gas and fill up the oil. ;-)

Hope it's nothing too major...

Wesley

Reply to
Wesley

I would suspect piston rings. Because you don't find oil marks under it, the oil is probably being drawn into the cylinders and spent out the exhaust. There may be another source for the oil to leak into the cylinders. For example another car of mine is known to have a problem developing a leak between the intake manifold and the internals of the engine so that the oil gets sucked into the mainfold. Sorry, I can't offer you more, I hope this helps is some way.

Reply to
Ed H.

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